In central Mali, during early July 2026, forces from the Russian-controlled Africa Corps summarily executed nine civilians, including four children. Our investigation reveals that dozens more individuals were subjected to brutal beatings. These operations, likely targeting those suspected of ties to Islamist armed groups, also saw Africa Corps fighters loot and set ablaze at least eight homes in the Mopti region.
The harrowing events unfolded around 5 AM on July 10, when over 100 Africa Corps combatants, accompanied by several Malian soldiers, stormed the village of Bombori. Traveling in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles, they descended upon the Fulani quarter, forcibly dragging residents from their homes and herding at least 80 men and boys under a tree. There, the fighters subjected them to severe beatings, interrogated them about alleged connections to Islamist armed groups, and threatened them with death if they withheld information. Six civilians attempting to flee were shot dead, while three others were arrested and executed, one of whom was decapitated.
The Malian junta appears to have granted Russian Africa Corps forces carte blanche to commit violence against civilians. Malian authorities cannot evade their legal obligations by allowing the Africa Corps to perpetrate such atrocities. A swift and impartial investigation into these abuses is imperative, with all those responsible, including any implicated Malian military personnel, brought to justice.
Between July 19 and July 30, I conducted remote interviews with 13 individuals, including four direct witnesses to the attack and nine members of civil society and community leaders, to piece together the events.
Russian forces led the operation
Witnesses consistently reported that Russian forces directed the Bombori operation, with four Malian soldiers primarily serving as interpreters. “The Russians were in charge… There were more than 100 of them, all in military fatigues and heavily armed,” recounted a 39-year-old villager. “A white man with two walkie-talkies seemed to be the leader. Each time he asked a question, he fired into the air.” Another witness, a 57-year-old butcher, described seeing “seven pick-up trucks with machine guns mounted on them, and over 60 motorcycles flying Malian flags.”
The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (GSIM, or Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, JNIM) has maintained control over Bombori since 2017, with a base situated just a kilometer away. However, witnesses confirmed that GSIM fighters had departed the village the day before the assault.
Successive Malian governments have struggled against Islamist armed groups since 2012. Following the coups of 2020 and 2021, the military junta expelled French and UN forces, strengthening its ties with Russia. Since 2021, the junta has relied on assistance from the Russia-linked Wagner Group for security. In June 2025, the Wagner Group announced its withdrawal from Mali after declaring its mission “accomplished.” It was subsequently replaced by the Africa Corps, now under Kremlin control, which comprises largely the same personnel, including many former Wagner combatants and some of the group’s key leaders. This shift is a significant aspect of current Sahel politics and Mali analysis.
Since 2021, I have documented widespread abuses committed by the Malian army, the Wagner Group, and now the Africa Corps during counter-insurgency operations across the country.
Civilians shot and beaten
Witnesses recounted that on July 10, Africa Corps forces opened fire on civilians fleeing Bombori before detaining and beating men and boys. “I saw two men fall under the bullets,” an emotional 40-year-old man stated. “I looked to my left and saw two motorcycles with two white soldiers; the first one, seated on a motorcycle, continued to shoot at the two men on the ground.” He added that a Russian fighter then led him to a tree where dozens of men and boys were being held at gunpoint. “The Russian fighters pointed their weapons at us, searched our pockets, seized all our phones, and photographed us,” he continued. “One Russian [fighter] kicked us, another hit us with his weapon, and I received several blows to my back and chest… while others continued to bring in men they had arrested in the village.”
The 39-year-old man described hiding in his home with his wife and children when three Russian fighters arrived, “took me by the hand and violently dragged me outside, face down,” before pushing him towards the assembly point. “We were all sitting on the ground, heads bowed,” he recounted. “A Russian fighter struck anyone who dared to look up with the butt of his rifle.”
The man detailed how Africa Corps combatants interrogated the detainees: “A Malian soldier translated: ‘Where are the jihadists? Whoever points out a fighter goes home, whoever shows weapon caches will get a reward. If you don’t cooperate, we’ll kill you all!’”
Executions near GSIM base
Witnesses reported that Africa Corps forces removed three young men from the group of detainees and drove away with them in a vehicle. “Around 9 AM, they took three young men… and drove them towards the GSIM base,” a 38-year-old man explained. “Later, we found them dead.” Residents clarified that while the three men had occasionally assisted GSIM in collecting “taxes” (“zakat” in Arabic), they were not combatants.
Residents indicated that GSIM, which has perpetrated widespread abuses across Mali since 2017, had controlled Bombori for nine years, collecting “taxes,” recruiting and training young men, and enforcing Sharia law. They noted a significant increase in Islamist fighters in the village following coordinated GSIM attacks in April and July across Mali. “Since the GSIM offensives, the security situation in our region has changed,” the butcher observed. “Many GSIM fighters, mostly foreigners, joined those already here.”
However, witnesses confirmed that on July 10, GSIM fighters were absent from Bombori. “The GSIM fighters left during the night, while everyone was sleeping,” the 39-year-old man recounted. “They do not protect us in case of an army attack.”
When the Africa Corps departed Bombori around 2 PM, residents recovered the bodies of nine individuals, including five men aged 19 to 34 and four children aged 6 to 17.
The 40-year-old man described the bodies of the two men shot in front of him as having “large, bloody open wounds to the chest and back.” Regarding the three men who were taken away, he stated that “one had been decapitated, his head displayed in the middle of the village… the other two had their throats slit and were tied, hands behind their backs.”
The 38-year-old man explained finding “the bodies of two children, both around 6 years old, shot dead next to a burned house,” and two other bodies “near the national road [with] bullet marks on their heads and… lying face down next to each other.”
Targeting the Fulani community
Bombori is divided into two quarters, one inhabited by the Rimaïbé ethnic group and the other by the Fulani. Africa Corps forces exclusively attacked the Fulani sector. “I remained seated at my brother’s forge, and I had no problems,” noted the butcher, a Rimaïbé. “The attackers did not enter our homes, nor search inside, and no one was arrested or killed among us.”
GSIM has historically focused its recruitment efforts on the Fulani community, and Malian governments have often conflated the Fulani with Islamist fighters, leading to severe abuses against them.
Africa Corps forces also stole money and jewelry and set fire to at least eight homes belonging to Fulani families whose sons, according to witnesses, were GSIM fighters. “I saw smoke rising from the Fulani quarter towards the mosque,” the 57-year-old man indicated. “It was later that I saw they [the attackers] had burned eight huts and also destroyed five grain silos.”
Letters detailing these findings and posing questions were sent to the Russian Minister of Defense and to Assimi Goïta, President and Minister of Defense of Mali, on August 4 and 5, respectively, but no response has been received to date.
All parties involved in the armed conflict in Mali are bound by international humanitarian law, including Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary laws of war. Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians or civilian property are prohibited, as are murder, cruel treatment, and torture of any person in detention. Individuals who commit grave violations of the laws of war with criminal intent, or who are implicated under command responsibility, can face prosecution for war crimes.
The Bombori massacre is emblematic of the atrocities committed in Mali. Villagers find themselves trapped between an Islamist armed group and the government with its Russian allies, with neither belligerent upholding international law.
